This undated photo provided by The Kroger Co. shows a driverless car that the Cincinnati-based company is about to test whether it can steer supermarket customers away from crowded grocery aisles with a fleet of diminutive driverless cars designed to lower delivery costs. The test program announced Thursday, June 28, 2018, could make Kroger the first U.S. grocer to make deliveries with robotic cars that won’t have a human riding along to take control in case something goes wrong. (Andrew Brown/The Kroger Co. via AP)(Photo: Andrew Brown, AP)

Also at the meeting, McMullen recapped Kroger's recent strategic moves that include: ramping up both home delivery and at store pickup services; the $700 million acquisition of meal kit-maker Home Chef; and its partnership with British digital grocer Ocado.

In March, Kroger expanded its partnership with San Francisco-based Instacart, making home delivery service available in 45 total markets nationwide, including Cincinnati. The company had already expanded its ClickList order-online-pickup-at-store service to more than one third of its supermarkets by late 2017.

Under pressure by digital juggernaut Amazon, which delivers a selection of groceries, Cincinnati-based Kroger has ramped up its home-delivery options with a series of distribution services, including Instacart in cities across the country.

Last year, Amazon sent the entire supermarket industry into a frenzy when it took over Whole Foods in a nearly $14 billion acquisition. Since then, almost 900 of nearly 2,800 Kroger stores support some type of home delivery service.

Separately, Kroger announced it would increase its quarterly dividend from 12.5 cents to 14 cents per share. It will be paid on Sept. 1 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 15.

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